Artificial or plastic worms are one of the most popular and versatile fishing lures in use today, both among the casual or amateur fishermen as well as among professional fishermen. The most common technique for the use of such lures is to rig the worm in a weedless fashion on a hook, with the point of the hook buried in the plastic. When a fish takes the lure and the hook is "set", the force of the hook set pulls the hook out of the soft plastic and into the fish.
Another popular rigging technique for this lure involves the use of an exposed hook point, but with a wire weedguard covering the point of the hook to keep the lure from becoming snagged on grass, trees, etc.
Along with such lures, a weight is usually employed to keep the lure on the bottom of the lake, river, etc., and to help in casting the light-weight lure. Most often, the weight is a conical or bullet shaped weight having an axial bore therethrough, and a recess at the larger end thereof which is complementary in shape to the end of the plastic worm. The fishing line passes through the axial bore, and the weight is free to slide along the line. Most typically, such weights are simply "lead colored" and do little to enhance the appearance of the lure. Usually, when new the weights are rather shiny, but after use for a period of time, the weights become a dull grey, oxidized color. More recently, painted weights have become available in colors to match the most commonly used worm colors.
The reason that the weight is allowed to slide along the line is to make it more difficult for a fighting fish to use the weight to its advantage and dislodge the hook during the fight. When the weight slides up the line, as during the fighting of the fish, only a small amount of weight is present in the vicinity of the hook, generally limited to the weight of the bare hook and the plastic worm, and very little leverage is present, so that it is far more difficult for the hook to be dislodged.
However, with a freely sliding weight on the line, it often happens during fishing that the weight will slide up the line before a fish is hooked. This allows the weight to fall on one side of a log, for example, while the worm and hook remain on the opposite side. When this happens, the bullet shape of the weight no longer aids in guiding the lure over the log, and quite often, upon continued pulling of the line, the hook is hooked into the log. When this happens, it becomes quite difficult to dislodge or free the hook.
As a result, fishermen have developed a technique for "pegging" the sinker. With this technique, a small piece of wood, for example the end of a toothpick, is forced into the axial hole at the small end of the sinker. The wood clamps the line against the side of the hole to prevent the sinker from sliding on the line. When the hook is set into a fish, the force of the hookset is adequate to release the piece of wood so that the weight is again free to slide for the purposes indicated above, as the fish is played. Of course each time that the hook is set, whether a fish is hooked or not, the wood, i.e. toothpick, must be replaced, causing some inconvenience to the fisherman.
The disadvantage of this "pegging" technique, however, is that the fishing line tends to be crimped, and thus weakened, at a point very close to the hook, and the only way to overcome this disadvantage is to use stronger or heavier weight line. While this does not truly overcome the problem, it does make the line less likely to break. Yet there will still be a weak spot in the line where it has been clamped between the wood and the lead weight, and the line is still most likely to break at this point.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior technique of "pegging" the weight, while still providing the same advantages.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved fishing weight for use with plastic or artificial worms.
Another object of this invention is to provide a fishing weight for use with plastic worms which may slide on the line, but which is kept in place against the worm during fishing until a fish is hooked.
A further object of the invention is to provide a fishing weight which includes a portion for releasably gripping the eye of the fishhook for releasably holding the weight in place against the plastic worm.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide an improved fishing weight which is coated with a soft rubber-like coating which may incorporate a variety of coloring materials.
Still a further object of the invention is to provide a rubber coated lead fishing weight in which the rubber of the coating includes a portion for releasably gripping the eye of the fishhook.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a soft plastic or rubber coated fishing weight having a recess molded in the lead portion with the rubber coating the recess and partially constricting the opening into the recess for retaining the eye of the fishhook therein.